Sorry But I Like You
by fantasy me
Summary: He was the most wanted guy, and also the notorious playboy, of Tomoeda High. She was just a lost tree spirit secretly in love with her master. What happens when these two meet? SS
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura or anything affiliated with it.

**A/N: Hi everyone! Just felt like writing this out. Hope you enjoy it! :) **

Summary: He was the most wanted guy, but also the notorious playboy, of Tomoeda High. She was just a lost tree spirit secretly in love with her master. What happens when these two meet? SS

* * *

Bad Day

Syaoran Li flinched as he ran his fingers lightly over the bruise on his forehead.

"Dammit, from this time on I'll never getting involved with any athlete again. Especially if she's from soccer," he swore under his breath. His fingers began to circle the blackish bump protruding from the skin. "Shit, it seems really swollen. How could a girl punch so damn hard?" he wondered angrily.

Despite being the most wanted guy in Tomoeda High, Syaoran was notorious for not being able to commit to any of his relationships. Most of them ended in two or three weeks. The longest was one and a half month while the shortest was merely one day. Regardless of the length of time, it was always Syaoran who initiated the breakup first.

Thus, having been familiar with how girls, or at least most girls, would react during a breakup, Syaoran was quite prepared both physically and mentally for such situations. He deliberately wore a sweater with long thick sleeves which would protect his arm from being hurt by the blows of despondent girls as they hammered away at him with their hangbags, purses or whatever they were holding at the moment. For those that liked to use their bare hands, he wound a thick muffler from around his neck up to half his face so as to protect his cheeks from tight bitch slaps.

Unfortunately, he was totally unprepared for today's breakup session. Apparently, when he had candidly told his soon-to-be ex that he didn't feel "the same" for her anymore, instead of targetting his arms or his cheeks as all the previous ex-es did, the girl angrily launched her fist straight at his forehead.

"How could her punch be so strong? I thought soccer only trained the legs," he muttered angrily as he winced at the pain.

"Take my advice, Li. Stay single. It's gonna require a damn lot of restraint and self-control on your part but it'll be good for your body," joked Yamazaki Takashi, Syaoran's buddy since elementary school. Syaoran shot him a glare. "Wow. Wise words, Yamazaki. You should go be a philosopher or something."

"Thank you! I think so too," Yamazaki said as he gave a courteous bow. Syaoran rolled his eyes.

"But I was kinda serious when I told you to stay single," Yamazaki said as he rested an arm on Syaoran's shoulder. "I mean, just look at how many relationships you've gotten into since you entered high school. I think they outnumber the strands of my hair. At this rate I think you have potential to turn the whole female population into your worst enemies by the time you reach twenty."

Syaoran paused in his tracks and sighed. "But it's not like I like breaking up with girls. I mean, I just can't control my feelings you know. One day I'm really head over heels with this girl that I get so convinced she's the one for me, but somehow I just lose interest easily. And it's really awkward to face your ex, especially when you see her, err them, everyday in school."

Yamazaki merely raised a brow.

Syaoran threw his hands up in the air. "Yeah okay fine I know I sound like a typical bastard slash major player who can't control his feelings but..." He paused before saying in a resigned tone, "Maybe I just can't help it. I know I'm a big jerk okay but I really can't help it."

Yamazaki patted his back. "Well, I know how you feel-"

"You do?"

"Nah I was just trying to comfort you. I actually don't. And I can't understand how you can even become like... what you are. But just know that if there ever comes a day when the world decides to stone you for breaking too many hearts, I'll be the first to make you a shield to protect yourself."

Syaoran raised two brows. "Okay. That isn't really comforting to hear but thanks anyway."

"You're welcome," Yamazaki grinned.

Syaoran grinned back. "Though it would make me much better if you would treat me to something."

"Sure. Where do you wanna go-" Yamazaki was cut off by the ringtone of his handphone. He swiftly swiped out his iPhone from his pocket as his eyes brightened at the caller's name on the screen. He cleared his throat, took in a deep breath before speaking in a low, husky voice into the phone, "Hello Chiharu? You were looking for me? Oh the girl scouts need some helping with carrying stuff? What a coincidence, I'm free right now to help out! No seriously, I'm quite bored now anyway, need something to keep me occupied. Alright, I'll be there right away!"

"What happened to treating me?" Syaoran began the moment Yamazaki hung up. His friend laughed awkwardly. "Heh, well Chiharu needs me to attend to some emergency right now so I'll have to treat you another day. I PROMISE I'll treat you to anything you want."

"Yeah sure, go save your damsel in distress. You must be quite bored with me anyway."

"Oh come on, dude. Are you getting jealous at Chiharu? Don't waste your time cos honestly I'd choose Chiharu over you any day," Yamazaki said as he took out a small comb from his pocket and quickly ran it through his hair. Then he patted Syaoran on the back and said in an apologetic tone, "Sorry buddy." before dashing off.

"So that's how you treat your 'buddy' huh," Syaoran shouted out. However, Yamazaki was already out of earshot.

"Crush over buddy I guess," Syaoran mumbled. Then he began to wonder about how just one call from Chiharu was enough to get Yamazaki all excited and enthusiastic to help her wherever she was. If it were his girlfriend calling him he couldn't imagine if he would even be bothered at all. He would likely just give an excuse.

Just as Syaoran was walking and being absorbed in his thoughts, he suddenly felt someone's hand grab his shoulder.

"What the-?" he let out as he turned around to face the owner of the hand.

"Excuse me, get your filthy foot off my plant!" the girl in front of him shouted angrily.

Syaoran looked down only to see that he had unknowingly planted his left foot on top of what seemed to be a branch that broke off from a cherry blossom tree, as seen from the cherry blossom flowers on the branch.

"S-Sorry," he said as he quickly removed his foot, picked up the branch and handed it to the auburn-haired girl. He was expecting a sweet 'thank you!' accompanied with a dainty smile from her when instead, she rudely snatched back the branch from him while maintaining her death glare.

_Geez it's just a stupid branch, it's not even a plant. Can't believe she looks ready to kill me cos' of that, _Syaoran thought as he looked at the girl. The murderous look on her face softened into a concerned expression as she carefully examined the branch.

_Hmm, she actually looks quite cute when she's not angry._

At that thought Syaoran quickly shook his head and mentally slapped himself._ I can't believe I just thought a fierce girl like her was cute. Must be that punch on my forehead._

"If you had used alittle more force you could have broken it-" before the girl could finish her words, her eyes shut close while her knees gave way and she collapsed, falling onto Syaoran.

"H-Hey!" he exclaimed as he grabbed her shoulders to catch hold of her. "Miss, Miss, are you okay?" he asked as her body leaned onto his. Not only was he standing in a rather awkward position as he tried to support the girl, he also was at a total loss of what to do. Never had some random person fainted right in front of him before! He didn't know if his flushed cheeks were from embarassment as passers-by stared weirdly at the girl and him, or rather, from her very close proximity to him.

"Young people these days... always getting drunk! You should have stopped your girlfriend from downing too many shots," a middle-aged woman commented disapprovingly.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Syaoran blurted out. He sighed frustratedly before proceeding to carry the girl in his arms and heading for the nearest hospital, which was three blocks away.

_What the heck is this? Is she playing some kind of fainting game to hook me up? _Syaoran wondered while trying to ignore the curious stares from people all around as he walked down the street quickly.

* * *

Syaoran laid the limp girl carefully onto the hospital bed. "The doctor's coming soon, right?" he asked the nurse. She nodded. "He should be on his way. I'll go out to check."

Syaoran waited for the nurse to leave the room before turning to the girl. "If I find out that you're just faking this whole shit I'm going to kill you," he said threateningly to her. He examined her face closely to see if there was any response. From the corner of his eye he caught the cherry blossom branch clutched tightly in her hand.

"Seems really important to her," he muttered. Then he recalled how she aggressively told him off just for stepping on that branch. A slight frown appeared on his face at that memory. "I'm being bullied by girls today. Must be my retribution for hurting too many of them," he thought aloud.

His eyes focussed back onto the branch. Curious, he reached out to take it to take a closer look at it. "What's so special about this?" he mumbled to himself as he scrutinised the branch from top to bottom.

"Dr Iwazaki is here."

The familiar voice of the nurse caused Syaoran to jump in shock. He hurriedly shoved the branch into his pocket and turned to face the doctor and the nurse who were entering the room.

"Hi," the doctor greeted briefly as he took big strides to where the girl lay. "May I know what happened to her?"

"It sounds stupid," were the first words Syaoran said as he didn't know how to put the incident across in a more 'normal' way. "She just fainted suddenly while talking to me. Well, she wasn't actually talking to me, more like shouting."

The doctor maintained a solemn look as he asked on, "Do you know if she has any medical conditions?"

"Um actually, I don't even know her. We're total strangers," came Syaoran's honest reply.

"So you two don't know each other," the doctor repeated. "And... she was shouting at you?" There was a hint of amusement in his tone.

Syaoran shrugged. "I don't know, maybe she's nuts or something," he said defensively, deliberately hiding the fact that it was because he stepped on her 'precious plant'. But it was an accident in the first place and anyway she was just over-reacting!

"We'll be sure to give her a mental health checkup," the doctor said. The slight, suppressed smile on his face convinced Syaoran that he was clearly amused . "Whatever," Syaoran replied curtly before walking angrily to the door.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura or anything affiliated with it.

**A/N: Hey all! Having some free time right now so gonna work on this story. Hope you people find it good! And of course I really, really would like to say a huge THANK YOU to Astrid01, James Birdsong, Mekana, Sari-Natsuki and konan248 for taking the trouble to review on the first chapt. Your reviews are very encouraging and motivating for me to write on, so thank you! :)**

Not human?

"Xiao Lang, keep your Saturday evening free. We're going to a company function," Yelan said as her son entered the house.

"Again?" Syaoran complained. "Didn't we go to one just last Sunday?"

"But you broke up with your girlfriend already, didn't you?" his mother replied nonchalantly, her eyes still scanning through the newspapers.

_So she does spy on me! _Syaoran thought, a scowl appearing on his face.

"Unless you managed to pick up another girlfriend within the past 6 hours," Yelan continued as she flipped the page.

"I don't have a date. I'm actually supposed to go bowling with Yamazaki and the basketball guys this Saturday night," Syaoran said, ignoring the girlfriend topic.

"Hmm... American mega-corporation Astley looking for Asian partner to undertake oil exploration venture in China," Yelan read the headlines aloud. Then she took out her phone and made a call to her secretary, "Hello, Miku? Get the contact of Astley's PR Officer for the Japan Branch. Tell him or her that Li Corporation is interested in a partnership for their China oil venture. Get back to me by tomorrow afternoon latest. By the way, what are the updates from our auditors about our financial statements?"

Syaoran sighed as he heard his mum talk business over the phone. Although she hadn't explicitly responded to his statement, he knew that she was clearly hinting to him that he would have to cancel whatever appointments he had on Saturday for that damned company function. He felt himself boil with indignation inside while he made his way upstairs to his room.

* * *

**Dude, did u manage to find urself another gf in the past 6 hrs? Cos ur excuse is rly lame and i bet ur gna go on some secret date rite.**

**Its not a damn excuse, its true. U can go stalk me sat nite and u'll noe im telling the truth. N sheesh, y does EVERYONE think im some gf magnet? even my mom said that 2 me.**

**No thx, if i hafta stalk i'd stalk a girl. like say Chiharu. but i wont anyway cos im not a stalker. anw, u rn't a gf magnet. 2 b accurate, ur a major player. btw, Takagi's gna treat us for sat nite cos he got accepted into Tokyo Uni.**

**Wow, i thot he was quite dumb. **

**Me too. He's always the last to get jokes. Jus proves datApparently he's a great deceiver. Anw, point is ur missing out on a lot this sat.**

**Yeah i noe. Thx for spelling it out.**

**U're welcome :)**

Syaoran rolled his eyes as he read Yamazaki's text before placing his iPhone on his table. He had just gotten out of the shower and was waiting for his hair to dry; he disliked using hair dryers. Somehow in elementary school Yamazaki had managed to convince him that the intense heat from hair dryers caused people to go bald quickly. Thats why people as young as forty could be balding already. Being the vain guy he was, Syaoran had stopped using hair dryers since then. Although he was very exhausted and wanted to just dive into bed and sleep, he was determined to make sure his hair was completely dry before it touched the pillows. While waiting, he caught sight of the cherry blossom branch on his table. He had took it out while emptying his pockets before taking a shower. The branch immediately made him think of the fierce but undeniably pretty auburn-haired girl. He was almost going to throw it into the dustbin initially but her death glare appeared in his mind, as though warning him not to 'ill-treat' the branch. He then decided to just put it on the table.

"Hope I don't ever see her again," Syaoran muttered as he continued to stare at the branch. Although it looked like a very ordinary cherry blossom branch, somehow, the more he stared at it, the more appealng it seemed to him. He reached out his hand and brought the cherry blossom closer to him to, weird as it sounded, admire it better.

* * *

_"Li-kun, you're the nicest guy I've ever met," the pink haired girl said as she snuggled closer to him. _

_"Really?" Syaoran asked. This was the first time a girl had actually complimented him on his personality rather than his looks or his body. _

_"Maybe other girls only like you for what you are on the outside, but not me. I know you're very admirable on the inside too," she smiled. _

_Syaoran smiled back and hugged her closer to him. Apparently the two of them were lying on the grass staring at the starry sky above._

_"The night is so beautiful," the girl commented. _

_"Not as beautiful as you," Syaoran said, his lover-boy personality kicking in. "By the way, what shampoo do you use? Your hair smells good. Like the scent of cherry blossoms blooming,"_

_Cherry blossoms... hmm sounds familiar, he thought inwardly. _

_The girl looked up at him and boldly gave him a peck on the lips. He grinned._

_Suddenly, a flash of lightning lit up the sky followed by the loud crackling of thunder. However, the thunder did not go "BOOM!" like usual, it went "RINGGGGG!"_

RINGGGGGG! RING!

Syaoran groaned as the deafening noise of the alarm clock woke him up from his sweet dream. His heavy eyelids still closed, he took whatever pillow he could grab and threw it at the direction of the alarm clock. It accurately hit the clock, causing it to fall onto the ground. It landed accurately on the snooze button as well, shutting off the alarm.

"Good dream while it lasted," Syaoran mumbled as he groggily opened his eyes. Initially sleepy, the sight in front of him immediately shocked him into becoming wide awake.

"What the heck?" he exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at the auburn-haired girl sleeping right next to him. Apparently the two of them were locked in a tight embrace as her head rested comfortably on his left arm.

Immediately recognising the girl, Syaoran instinctively withdrew his hands and sat up straight, keeping a distance from her.

"Oh darn, I've been hugging that weird cherry blossom girl all this time? No wonder I smelt cherry blossom in my dream, it must be her hair!" he exclaimed, cringing. He continued to stare at her in shock.

"H-How the heck did she get here?" he wondered aloud. The girl's eyelids seemed to move and shortly after her eyelids fluttered open, revealing her bright emerald eyes.

"Good morning," she greeted Syaoran sweetly with a bright smile. This shocked him beyond words.

"A-Aren't you supposed to be in the hospital? H-How in the world did you end up here?" he stammered as he looked at her weirdly, totally freaked out by her random appearance in his room. The girl continued to smile sweetly at him.

_Yesterday she was just ready to explode in front of me, and right now she's acting like one of my fangirls?_

"Thanks for taking care of my branch," she said, oblivious to his questions. "It's really very important to me."

"B-Branch?" Syaoran repeated. "Oh!" The memory of the cherry blossom branch came to his mind. He remembered how he had accidentally brought it home with him, and how he spent quite some time lying on his bed looking at the branch before falling asleep shortly after. He must have slept while holding the branch in his hands.

_Where's the branch..._ he thought as his eyes scanned the bed.

"I'm really sorry about my conduct yesterday," the girl went on. Syaoran ignored her and continued to look for the branch.

"You see, I thought you were some bad person. I heard many bad stuff about you so I had quite a negative impression of you. On top of that you stepped on my branch and it caused me such unbearable pain I fainted."

Syaoran's ears picked up at that line. He looked up at her and repeated, "I stepped on your branch... and it caused you to faint?"

She nodded. "Thank goodness you didn't use much force or you wouldn't broken it. I could have died."

Syaoran looked back at her with a solemn look on his face.

"So you're implying that you and the branch are... related? Like ESP kind of thing?" he asked.

"To be more exact, the branch is me," the girl replied, emphasising the "is". Syaoran stared back at her emotionlessly.

_She's cute when she's nice... _he thought as he noted her gentle expression. _A pity she's crazy._

"Look," he said, summoning courage to speak what was on his mind. He took in a deep breathe before finally shooting everything out, "I don't think we've ever met in school and I'm sorry if I didn't take notice of you earlier. But please, get a grip on yourself! It's not worth wasting your time stalking me, okay? I'm really not the guy for you. Look, I can forget about how you pretended to faint yesterday just to get me to carry you, I can also forget that you stalked me from the hospital all the way to my house and slept right next to me! I'll pretend none of this ever happened and I won't tell a single soul about it. And I'll set you up with any guy you want in Tomoeda High. Hiraku, Yamada, Hiro... just name it! I can give you the contact of anyone you want! But on ONE condition, you have to stop pestering me and leave, got it?"

The girl looked back at him, her smile slowly fading into a sorrowful pout.

"You don't believe me," she stated, looking down sadly. This made Syaoran feel a tinge of guilt. He sighed inwardly.

_Damn, hate it when cute girls get sad. But yeah right, she's just trying to play on my sympathy. Doesn't change the fact that she's nuts._

"Xiao Lang! It's almost seven! Are you awake yet?" Yelan's voice could be heard loudly from outside. This caused Syaoran to jump out of his bed in shock.

"Shit shit shit!" he panicked as he heard his mother walk up the stairs. "Y-You have to hide!" He said, turning to the girl. "My mom can't see you here with me, she'll start imagining all kinds of things!"

His eyes darted around the room to look for a safe place to hide the girl.

"Xiao Lang, who are you talking to? Is there anyone in your room with you?" his mother asked as she stopped in front of his door.

"Quick, hide under the blanket!" he instructed while his eyes focussed on the door. However, it was probably too late as within a split second his mother swung open the door.

"Xiao Lang!" she exclaimed. Syaoran quickly shut his eyes and cussed silently. _Shit, she probably thinks that we slept together. AND she'll kill me for that._

To his surprise, his mother did not start screaming or shouting or even lift her hand to hit him. Instead, she walked over to the bed and gasped.

"Oh how pretty!"

Curious, Syaoran opened his eyes and turned to the bed only to see his mother holding up a cherry blossom branch and admiring it.

"Xiao Lang, where did you get this from? It's so beautiful! I have to put it in our garden!" Yelan said as she held up the branch.

Syaoran gaped. Deep inside he wondered where the girl could be hiding. She possibly couldn't be hiding under the bed or even beneath the blanket; there was too little time for that. Unless...

"Do you think if I graft it it can continue grow? I know you can do that for olive plants and roses but I'm not sure about cherry blossoms," Yelan said. "But I"ll try anyway. The flowers are so pretty!"

Syaoran watched his mother turn and walk out of his room, enchanted with the branch. She had forgotten to even scold him for still not getting ready for school!

The moment his mother walked down the stairs, Syaoran quickly sprang into action and searched the whole room for the weird girl. He overturned the blanket, checked under the bed, even peered into his closet (though he hadn't seen her run to it to hide unless she was really fast) but couldn't find her anywhere!

"_The branch is me." _the girl's voice ringed in his ears.

"I-I can't believe it..." he muttered, staring blankly at the bed. "S-She really was that branch?"

* * *

"Master Xiao Lang, your breakfast?" Wei asked as her son flew down the straight, heading straight for the door.

"No thanks, Wei. I'm late," Syaoran replied as he hurriedly put on his shoes.

"Wait, before you leave," Wei said as he walked towards him holding a woollen muffler.

"It's quite a cold and snowy morning. Madam Yelan said that this would help to keep you warm," Wei said as he wound the muffler around Syaoran's neck. Syaoran looked down at the muffler then smiled at Wei. "Thanks." And with that, he hurriedly left the house.

"Wow it's really cold today," Syaoran mumbled as he ran towards the chaffeur with the wind blowing in his face. A sudden thought hit him and he paused in his tracks. He hesitated for awhile before rolling his eyes and changing direction to the garden. Ignoring the chaffeur's calls and warnings that it was already quite late, he dashed to find where a certain cherry blossom branch was. When he had found it sticking up from a nice pot of fresh soil, he quickly unwound his muffler and wrapped it round the branch instead.

"I must be crazy," he muttered before making his way to the chaffeur.


End file.
